The ungodly heat has had me daydreaming about frozen treats a lot lately -- that is, when I'm not eating them. So I got a kick the other day when a faithful reader sent me this item about a New York City politician's failed attempt to launch a boycott of an ice cream seller's chunky-swirly flavor known as "Staten Island Landfill." The embargo effort backfired, and then some.

 

And I always thought it took thick skin and a good sense of humor to succeed in public life in NYC.

 

In reponse to the recent Inbox item about former EPA chief Christie Whitman's testy tete-a-tete with some members of Congress over the EPA's response after the 2001 terrorist attack in New York, a reader e-mailed to point out that under OSHA rules, when demolition jobs are going on, it's the employer's responsibility to ensure that workers are safe, not the government's.

 

"Sounds to me like some sufferers are looking for some deep-pocket relief from Uncle Sam's EPA rather than from some small employer's limited resources," he writes.

 

There may well be some such fishy fishing going on; it wouldn't shock me if there were. On the other hand, it's not as if we're talking about your everyday ho-hum demolition job here. Is it unfair to expect that when a calamity of the magnitude of 9/11 hits, the EPA should do all it can to make sure that people living and working in the area are kept reasonably safe?

 

Correction: A few weeks ago Inbox erroneously stated that the U.S. EPA reports that 32% of Americans participate in recycling programs. In fact, the EPA reports that the U.S. recycling rate for 2005 was 32%. In other words, U.S. recycling programs resulted in 32% of the nation's waste being diverted from landfills that year.

 

Sorry about the slip-up, and many thanks to the astute reader who noticed it and brought it to my attention.

 

Lastly, thanks to the Australian reader who sent this link describing the color-coded curbside waste collection system recently launched by the fictional town of Wedgedale, "Australia's most livable city."

 

It's about time someone thought to set aside a bin devoted strictly to "Sunday papers full of homeopathy and breast enhancement ads and photos of fat people getting married," and another bin for "ridiculously tough plastic packaging you have to hack through with huge scissors and almost cut your fingers off."

 

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.wastenews.com